The Cheesesteak Showdown is history. And I did my own unscientific poll over the 13 weeks. I bought two cheesesteaks at Giacomo's and they were good. They forgot the fries the second time, but I shared my daughter's order and it was plenty for both of us. Unscientific? Unlike the Cheesesteak Warriors, I skipped the other 12 places because they were too far from my house. I wanted to go to Carl's Corner in Bethlehem, because I worked with Carl's wife, Betsy, a million years ago, but as anyone who lives in Easton knows, Bethlehem's just too far to go. Admit it, you liked the Cheesesteak Showdown. I looked forward to it each week. Joe Owens, Kelly Huth and Bill Adams did a great job.

They had an election on Tuesday in New Jersey. Doesn't look like anyone noticed. They'll do it again in November.New York Times columnist and Nobel Prize winnerPaul Krugman has been going on for years now that if the federal government stopped priming the economy too soon that the economy was going to slow to a crawl. There even is historical precedent for this, as the government got all worried about spending in 1937 and cut back, pushing the Depression toward the 1940s.

So what did we do in recent months? We blew all that unfocused stimulus money in the first two years and there's none left. All everyone wants to talk about is cutting back. Want the debt ceiling raised? Cut trillions. Well, how has that debate worked out? The stock market has plunged since the debate heated up in the past five weeks. Thanks. And my 401(k) thanks you too.

Somebody please give me a politician who is willing to do the right thing and not worry about getting reelected.

Please, someone show me how austerity makes the economy grow in tough times? It doesn't. This was the time to destroy Medicare? I know the GOP felt if not now, when. But now we're bleeding public sector jobs right and left -- not a bad thing in better times -- and unemployment is ticking back up. Talk about uncertainty. We're now uncertain that we'll be able to afford health care after we no longer have incomes. Yup, it was time for that to obscure the effort to save the economy.

What it comes down to is the economy wasn't fixed so we decided to starve it. And guess what? It didn't get better.

I'm the first to admit I don't have the answer. Because my answer to deficit spending is to tax as well as cut. And that's not going to work at the moment.

We're in a situation where we need a WPA, a government program to put people back to work rebuilding road and bridges. But as states and cities cut their budgets and the feds talk about saving trillions, there won't be any money to do this.

Reality check: how quickly is the economy growing? Which way is unemployment going? What's the stock market doing? And all anyone wants to talk about is the 2012 presidential race. Really? We can put this off until January 2013?